league with Satan to affright the Christians out
of the heathen country over which he has reigned
so long. Then, again, the sea-shore is infested
by pirates, the scum of all nations: they land,
and plunder, and ravage, and burn, and destroy.
Folk get affrighted of the real dangers, and in
their fright imagine, perchance, dangers that are
not. But who knows? Holy Scripture speaks
of witches and wizards, and of the power of the
Evil One in desert places; and even in the old
country we have heard tell of those who have
sold their souls for ever for the little power they
get for a few years on earth."

By this time the whole table was silent,
listening to the captain; it was just one of those
chance silences that sometimes occur, without
any apparent reason, and often without any
apparent consequence. But all present had
reason, before many months had passed over, to
remember the words which Lois spoke in
answer, although her voice was low, and she only
thought, in the interest of the moment, of being
heard by her old friend the captain.

"They are fearful creatures, the witches! and
yet I am sorry for the poor old women, whilst I
dread them. We had one in Barford when I was
a little child. No one knew whence she came, but
she settled herself down in a mud-hut by the
common side; and there she lived, she and her cat."
(At the mention of the cat, Elder Hawkins shook
his head long and gloomily.) " No one knew how
she lived, if it were not on nettles and scraps of
oatmeal and such-like food given her more for
fear than for pity. She went double, always
talking and muttering to herself. Folk said she
snared birds and rabbits in the thicket that
came down to her hovel. How it came to pass
I cannot say, but many a one fell sick in the
village, and much cattle died one spring when I
was about four years old. I never heard much
about it, for my father said it was ill talking
about such things; I only know I got a sick
fright one afternoon when the maid had gone
out for milk and had taken me with her, and we
were passing a meadow where the Avon, circling,
makes a deep round pool, and there was a crowd
of folk, all still—and a still, breathless crowd
makes the heart beat worse than a shouting,
noisy one. They were all gazing towards the
water, and the maid held me up in her arms
to see the sight above the shoulders of the
people; and I saw old Hannah in the water, her
grey hair all streaming down her shoulders, and
her face bloody and black with the stones and the
mud they had been throwing at her, and her cat
tied round her neck. I hid my face, I know, as
soon as I saw the fearsome sight, for her eyes met
mine as they were glaring with fury—poor,
helpless, baited creature!—and she caught the sight
of me, and cried out, 'Parson's wench, parson's
wench, yonder, in thy nurse's arms, thy dad hath
never tried for to save me, and none shall save
thee when thou art brought up for a witch.'
0h! the words rang in my ears when I was
dropping asleep for years after. I used to dream
that I was in that pond, all men hating me with
their eyes because I was a witch; and, at times,
her black cat used to seem living again, and
say over those dreadful words."

Lois  stopped; the two daughters looked at
her excitement with a kind of shrinking surprise,
for the tears were in her eyes. Elder Hawkins
shook his head, and muttered texts from Scripture;
but cheerful Widow Smith, not liking the
gloomy turn of the conversation, tried to give it
a lighter cast by saying, " And I don't doubt but
what the parson's bonny lass has bewitched
many a one since with her dimples and her
pleasant ways—eh, Captain Holdernesse? It's
you must tell us tales of this young lass's doings
in England."

"Ay, ay," said the captain, "there's one
under her charms in Warwickshire who will
never get the better of it, I'm thinking."

Elder Hawkins rose to speak; he stood leaning
on his hands, which were placed on the table:
"Brethren," said he, " I must upbraid you if
ye speak lightly; charms and witchcraft are
evil things. I trust this maiden hath had nothing
to do with them, even in thought. But my mind
misgives me at her story. The hellish witch
might have power from Satan to infect her
mind, she being yet a child, with the deadly sin.
Instead of vain talking, I call upon you all to
join with me in prayer for this stranger in our
land, that her heart may be purged from all
iniquity. Let us pray."

"Come, there's no harm in that," said the
captain; " but, Elder Hawkins, when you are
at work, just pray for us all, for I am afeard there
be some of us need purging from iniquity a good
deal more than Lois Barclay, and a prayer for a
man never does mischief."

Captain Holdernesse had business in Boston
which detained him there for a couple of days,
and during that time Lois remained with the
Widow Smith, seeing what was to be seen of
the new land that contained her future home.
The letter of her dying mother was sent off to
Salem, meanwhile, by a traveller going thither,
in order to prepare her Uncle Ralph Hickson
for his niece's coming as soon as Captain Holdernesse
could find leisure to take her; for he
considered her given into his own personal charge
until he could consign her to her uncle's
care. When the time came for going to Salem,
Lois felt very sad at leaving the kindly woman
under whose roof she had been staying, and
looked back as long as she could see anything of
Widow Smith's dwelling. She was packed into
a rough kind of country cart which just held her
and Captain Holdernesse beside the driver.
There was a basket of provisions under their feet,
and behind them hung a bag of provender for
the horse; for it was a good day's journey to
Salem, and the road was reputed so dangerous
that it was ill tarrying a minute longer than
necessary for refreshment. English roads were
bad enough at that period and for long after,
but in America the way was simply the cleared
ground of the forest; the stumps of the felled
trees still remaining in the direct line, forming
obstacles, which it required the most careful
driving to avoid; and in the hollows, where the